Just My Luck
by animalover123
Summary: Throughout her life, May has had the worst luck ever. But when she attends a new school and meets new friends, including a certain green-haired boy, will her luck go for better or worse? Contestshipping, Pokeshipping, Ikarishipping and Oldrivalshipping.
1. Chapter 1

**For those of you who remember this story from who knows when; I'm restarting it. Yes, yes, I know I said I was going to put my focus in my other story; but I need a break from it. Don't worry, I won't discontinue it; I'd just like another story to update. Anyways, there's a slight plot difference here:**

**There'll be a sub-plot that will be introduced towards the middle of the story. I'm not going to be saying what it is because I'm still juggling around whether or not to include it; so this is more of a warning than a confirmation. **

**Another thing, I re-wrote the first chapter and the other ones because of how the story flows. Alright I'm done talking, go ahead and read what's here...**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 1<strong>

Hi, my name's May Maple. I'm only fifteen years old, but I think I have the worst luck imaginable. My parents died in a car crash when I was only five and my younger brother, Max, was one. We were placed in foster care since we had no other close relatives. But even so no one wanted us. In every household we'd been placed in, accidents would happen around me. The accidents got worse and worse; and each accident meant another nasty foster home.

The only foster parents that were genuinely nice to us were Caroline and Norman. They were also our last, but they actually treated me and Max with kindness. It almost felt like a real family. But, of course, my luck changed that. I was helping out with a school play and Caroline had picked me up. It was a late Saturday night and a drunk driver crashed into us. As a result, Caroline died (in another car accident, how ironic) I guess that was one of the times my luck changed, since I did survive the crash. Well, I survived with a broken leg and arm and was bound to a wheelchair for months. Anyways, Norman was so upset that he had child services pick us up. He was convinced that it was my fault and he wanted me and Max out of his life as soon as possible. In a way, he was right, but he shouldn't have blamed Max for my dreadful luck.

This was the last straw. Max and I have been to so many different houses that child services simply gave up on us. They decided to stick us in boarding schools in order to avoid trouble; like that'll work, trouble follows me. But I felt bad for Caroline, Max, and everyone else who had to suffer because of me. It just wasn't fair that my horrible luck caused so much misery. Unfortunately, the only boarding school in Hoenn was really, _really_ hard to get in. According to Helen, our child care lady, or whatever, the services had to pull a bunch of strings just to get me in. They couldn't do the same for Max, so he was stuck in some other school in Kanto.

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><p>Max jiggled his glasses and I smiled softly at him. We were sitting on the front lawn of our last foster home. Norman had been too impatient to wait for child services to pick us up and he had already kicked us out of the house.<p>

"I'm gonna miss you Maxie," I said. "I know you're nervous-"

"I'm not nervous," Max snapped.

I rolled my eyes. "You're fidgeting with your glasses. You do that when you're nervous."

Max immediately stopped messing with his spectacles and stared at the pavement in front of him. The road was strangely devoid of any cars. You would think that a Friday afternoon would have a bunch of automobiles speeding home.

"It's not even you're fault," I whispered. "You just got stuck with me. And since I have the worst luck ever, you had to suffer. The further you're away from me, the better."

"Don't say that," Max said as he looked at me. He had a wistful expression on his face. It looked more like defeated though.

I tried to sound upbeat, positive for him, "You're a smart kid. You'll be the best student at that boarding school in Kanto. Don't fret over it."

Max began to mindlessly pluck strands of grass out of Norman's lawn. He picked at it in frustration.

"I don't wanna be so far away from you though," he said. I thought I heard a little tremor in it.

Suddenly two black cars pulled up in front of us. A man in a business suit emerged from one car while Helen came out of the other.

Always the annoyingly perky woman she was, Helen waved happily at us.

"How are you two? You all ready?" she asked cheerfully. I resisted the urge to punch her in the face.

The man in the business suit placed a hand on Max's shoulder. "It's time to go son."

"Goodbye Max," I muttered. I couldn't even look him straight in the eyes. It hurt too much. It felt like my heart was being weighed down by lead.

"See you sis."

I watched him turn away and he clambered into a black car without a second glance. Helen steered me to the second car and nearly threw me into the back seat. The car Max was in drove in the opposite direction of mines.

I fiddled with a necklace around my neck. It was the only reminder of my old life. I only had a very vague and blurry memory of my parents gifting me the necklace when I was three. It wasn't anything extravagant; just a gold chain with a golden rose pendant hanging from it. But I preferred it more than something with large jewels sticking out of random places; that'd be way too flashy. Meanwhile, Helen peered at me from the mirror at the front of the car.

"That's a pretty necklace," she said, trying to start up a conversation. "I've never seen it before. Did Caroline and Norman give it to you?"

I stared out the window tiredly, "Sure." I didn't feel like talking.

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><p>After what seemed like an eternity, Helen pulled up in front of a large building. She got out of the car while I did the same.<p>

She smiled at me. "Welcome to LaRousse Preparatory! Or LaRousse Prep for short. Hurry up and we'll get you signed in."

I followed Helen into the massive school. I sat and waited outside the main office while Helen went in to talk to the secretary. I jumped as a loud bell rang throughout the hallways. Doors were flung open as students filed out of their classes. I earned a bunch of looks and I stared down at my hands to avoid any eye contact. I folded them together and twiddled my thumbs. Suddenly Helen popped out of the office and waved impatiently at me to follow her. I scrambled to my feet as she stuck out a hand holding a white index card.

"This is your schedule card," she explained, as she handed it to me. "School just let out so your classes will start on the Monday of next week. You'll be living in Apartment 4, Dorm 7C. The secretary says it's one of the closest living facilities to the school, so that's pretty convenient. This-" Helen pressed an even smaller white card into my hand. It had a black stripe running through it. "-is a temporary pass. You'll use this to get inside your dorm apartment and room. You'll Eventually get a student ID, but, in the meantime you'll just have to make do with that."

She said this all very quickly. We reached the still running car and Helen unlocked the trunk. She flung my suitcase out of the car and it landed on the pavement with a dull thud.

"Alright, that's everything," she grunted as she carried my belongings on the sidewalk. "I'll check on you soon once you settle in kiddo. Bye!"

Her heels clacked against the concrete as she opened the car door and got in. The wheels of the car squealed and kicked up a cloud of dirt as she sped away.

I rolled my eyes and gripped the luggage handle. I pulled it behind me as I scanned the school grounds. Tall buildings encompassed the school and I nonchalantly walked to the nearest one. Large golden letters spelled "Dorm 8" on the front door. It took me ten minutes to find Dorm 4. For some strange reason, the buildings weren't lined in order. What kind of person does that? Just put the buildings in numerical order!

I swiped the pass along a scanner besides the door. With a click, the door unlocked itself and I pulled it open. The first floor was a large open space. People were playing video games on the large flat screen t.v, billiards at a pool table, or foosball. They stopped their activities once they caught sight of me.

My first thought: this is awkward. My eyes caught sight of the stairway and I nervously sped walked towards them. Maybe it was my shoelaces, or my bad luck, but for whatever reason, I somehow managed to trip and fall against the tiled floor. It didn't nearly hurt as much as the roar laughter that echoed through the room. I could feel the heat radiating off my cheeks as I hurried to my feet.

Way to make a good first impression May.

It wasn't too hard lugging my stuff up all those stairs. But that didn't leave me out of breath by the time I reached the seventh floor. Opening the door leading to the floor, I was a bit impressed by the fancy interior decorating. It was something you'd normally see in a five-star hotel, based on what pictures I'd seen at least. Not bad LaRousse Prep.

As I strode across the plush carpeting, a sculpture of a strange looking red blob distracted me and I nearly missed my room. Swiping my temporary pass again, the door clicked open and I pushed against the heavy door. Wow, LaRousse Prep managed to impress me yet again. The front entrance opened to the kitchen filled with stain steel appliances and even an oven and stove. There was even an island in the middle of the kitchen with what looked to be Unova-imported granite countertops. Past the kitchen and a large archway was most likely the living room. There was a large flat screen television bolted to the wall and a large cream sofa on the opposite side of the room. Trivial things, like paintings and rugs, decorated the room, making it look fancy and expensive. There were two doors on the left and right sides of the living room. I walked up to the right door and knocked before opening it. A girl was lying on a bed with her feet in the air. She had dark blue hair and hair clips holding some of her hair up. She smiled at me and immediately rolled over to sit upright on her bed. Her earphones fell out, but she ignored them.

Her half of the dorm was honestly the girliest thing I'd ever seen. But I lived with Max my entire life, so I can't be one to judge. But the wallpaper, bed sheets, and blanket were pink. The desk and various pillows on her bed were white. There was even a bookshelf across her bed that was painted white and filled with books, stuffed animals, and picture frames. The only thing that wasn't white or pink was her desk chair which was a darkish-black blue color. There was another door besides her desk that was her closet, I think. The other side of the room, though, was completely bare. There was only a simple white bed and the closet, but that was it. It must be my half of the room then. There was yet another door in the middle of our room; I'm guessing that's the bathroom.

"Hey, you must be the new kid!" she exclaimed, "I'm Dawn Berlitz. It's nice to meet you."

I smiled naturally; she seemed friendly enough. "I'm May Maple."

Dawn waved impatiently for me to come in. I did so, dragging my suitcase behind me.

"Is this all your stuff?" she asked, pointing at my stuff.

"Yeah…" I replied. Her eyes flashed mischievously and she quickly rushed out of the room.

I was unzipping my suitcase when there was a surprised squeal and a "Dawn!" from the other room. I could hear talking and yells echoing from the living room and I tried to ignore whatever conversation was taking place. I slowly took out my neatly folded clothes and placed them on my bed. Curious, I went over to the closet on my side of the room and opened the door. It was a tiny thing, but big enough to hold what stuff I had on me.

I turned around as the talking grew clearer. Two curious heads poked through the doorway.

Dawn rolled her eyes. "It's alright," she said. "Come in already!"

The two shuffled forwards as Dawn nudged her head in their direction.

"We share the kitchen and living room with these other girls."

A girl with brown hair and dark green eyes waved happily at me while the other girl with orange hair smiled and inclined her head.

"Hi, I'm Leaf!" The brown haired girl piped. She seemed very perky; but not in a bad way.

"Misty," The orange haired girl said, pointing to herself. She seemed calmer than her roommate.

I forced a polite smile to my face and I waved back nervously.

"I'm May." It came out as a squeak.

Leaf's eyes flashed to the one suitcase on my bed before craning her neck to look past that.

"Only one suitcase?" she asked. "That's not a lot. I guess for once we'll actually _need_ an 'emergency shopping trip.'"

Leaf made her point by glaring angrily at Dawn. My roommate laughed nervously. "Hey!" she protested. "My Paris designer shoes were completely ruined by the stupid mud."

My eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Paris designer shoes?" I asked in disbelief. "Aren't Paris brand shoes like, super expensive?"

Leaf giggled. "Not to Dawn," she said. "She's a part of the Berlitz's, one of the richest families in the Sinnoh region. She could buy this whole school if she wanted to."

Dawn stuck out her tongue. "Don't say that. I would never buy this school."

Leaf rolled her eyes. "I was making a point."

Dawn plopped besides next to me on my bed. "So what's your story?" she asked curiously. Her blue eyes gleamed in anticipation.

I tilted my head in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"See, my family forced me into this school so they paid the high tuition fee," Dawn said.

Leaf pointed to herself. "I come from an old family in Kanto with high political power. My parents forced me to come here too."

"And my sisters sent me here since they wanted to pursue their acting careers in Goldenrod City," Misty said as she leaned casually against the doorframe. "You might have heard of them, The Cerulean Sisters."

"You're siblings with the Cerulean Sisters?" I asked in amazement. "They're like the most famous group of actresses in the showbiz industry though!"

Misty shrugged indifferently. It only heightened my first impression of her: calm. Or maybe it was just that she was tired of everyone stating the obvious. I know I would.

Dawn nodded slowly. "So how'd you get here?"

I scratched her head nervously. "Err…"

What was I supposed to say? These girls were all related to important and rich families. And me? I'm an orphan who jumped from foster family to foster family for the last ten years. Oh yeah, not to mention that I only got in this school because I was a part of the government's charity case.

"Hello?" A hand was waving in front of me and I yelped in shock.

Dawn giggled. "It's just me. Are you going tell us?"

I instinctively reached for my necklace and fiddled with the charm. The three other girls noticed and Dawn smiled brightly.

"That's such a pretty necklace May!" She exclaimed. "Where'd you get it from?"

I smiled, glad of the change of topic. "My parents gave it to me for my birthday."

Dawn pointed at it. "Can I?" She asked. She wanted to see it.

I nodded and gently unclasped the necklace from my neck. I handed it over to Dawn and Leaf and Misty crowded around her to get a better look at it.

Dawn turned it over a couple of times in her palm before giving it back to me. "It's really pretty. That's real gold, did you know?"

I looked at her in astonishment. "Was it? I never knew.."

Misty laughed. "If anyone can tell, it's Dawn. Her jewelry box is practically filled to the brim with priceless metals."

Dawn winked at me and I smiled naturally. "We Berlitz's know our jewelry," she told me. "It's always been a part of the family business."

These girls made it seem like I'd been their friends for years. I liked that.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The next day, Dawn woke me up.

"What's up?" I asked with my eyes still shut. My voice was heavy with sleep.

"You need to get up!" Dawn whispered. "We're leaving soon."

I cracked open an eye to glance at the wall clock on Dawn's side of the room. "But it's eight in the morning!" I protested, pulling the white sheets over my head tiredly.

"Exactly!" Dawn cried outside of our room. "The mall opens at nine and we can't be a minute late!" There was a loud pounding sound as Dawn mercilessly banged on Misty and Leaf's door

"Wake up you guys!" she shouted. "We have to go!"

I blinked my eyes open and slowly crawled out of bed. Ten minutes later, I emerged from the bathroom when I was convinced I looked decent. After an afternoon and evening of talking and sharing stories, Misty suggested we turn in early. But it was a bad night for me; I had nightmares again. That's another thing about me; I get a lot of nightmares. Max used to tease me that it was bad luck, but he never knew that I took that possibility seriously.

The problem is I can't ever remember my nightmares. Even when I'm crying through my sleep or throwing a fit in my bed, there'll be no memory of it. That just makes me feel more helpless.

But enough about the negative, it's time to focus on something more fun; like shopping.

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><p>I take that back, after today, I don't think I'd ever want to go shopping again. Misty and Leaf were right to be angry at Dawn for her last "emergency shopping trip." Honestly, this girl can be even worse than my nightmares and that's pretty scary.<p>

"We're getting this, this, that, and that… Oh, and I _need_ to have this!"

"Are you kidding me? These boots are worth at least fifty dollars less than the price… But I'll take them anyway!"

"You can't be serious! I _found _it in the fifty percent off box! How dare you charge me full price! You know what? Keep the stupid purse; it was ugly anyways!"

It's only been an hour later and I feel like I've aged ten years. My arms feel as though they're going to fall off. Misty and Leaf were no better off. In fact, we were all exhausted when we slumped against a bench outside of a store. We could even hear Dawn screaming at a customer to let go of a scarf she found.

"Is she always like this?" I asked while gasping for air. Who knew eight boxes of shoes could weigh so much?

Misty shook her head. "It's been a long time since she went on a shopping spree .I guess she just needed to blow off some energy one way or another."

Leaf sighed. "It's partially our fault though. We made her promise no more shopping until we absolutely needed to. In case you haven't noticed, she tends to overdo herself."

"Really?" I asked sarcastically before I could stop myself. "Thanks for telling me."

Leaf cracked a smile just as Dawn came storming out of the store.

"Let's go you guys," she growled. I shrugged while Misty and Leaf looked equally confused.

We managed to gather all of Dawn's bought goodies and followed her.

"Where to next?" Leaf asked.

Dawn whipped out her cell phone to call the school's taxi service. Apparently they didn't have school buses. I didn't quite get it; I mean, the students live on the school property.

"We're going back," Dawn snapped as she stuffed her cell phone in her purse.

"Why?" I asked in puzzlement. I glanced over to Misty and Leaf to see if they had any answers. Misty shifted some bags to her left arm, and with her right, she pointed her index finger to the left and made circles with it.

_Just go with the flow and don't ask any questions; it'll become clear._

I resisted the urge to tell her she sounded like a fortune cookie. Or maybe it was me since that was my interpretation.

I could hear Dawn grumbling to herself angrily. "Stupid Paul… Who does he think he is? …So infuriating…"

I hung back and lingered in Misty's and Leaf's company.

"Who's Paul?" I asked them. Misty's and Leaf's expressions lifted as they suddenly knew what was wrong with Dawn. I, on the other hand, was waiting for an explanation.

"We should've known it was Paul!" Leaf exclaimed once Dawn was out of hearing range.

Misty shrugged in response. "Only that boy knows how to get Dawn riled up so fast."

"So who is he?" I asked curiously.

"He's this guy who goes to our school," Leaf replied. "His brother owns a series of daycares all over Sinnoh. Anyways,Paul and Dawn were assigned to work together for an assignment for English. The project was due just a couple of days ago actually."

Leaf made a peculiar face, like she was trying not to laugh. "Let's just say that they didn't get along so well."

"It's actually kind of funny if you think about it," Misty considered. By then, we had walked out of the mall and could see Dawn standing several meters away. Her foot was tapping impatiently against the ground as she waited for a school taxi.

"Well you had Ash as your partner, so you can't complain!" Leaf defended. She turned to me.

"He's this guy that Misty's totally crushing on, but I don't see it," Leaf shrugged just as Misty's pink face butted into her our secret conversation.

"I do not!" Misty said. "I mean, I am not!"

Whatever happened to calm? Misty was now a raging beast.

"Leaf Green, don't you dare start anymore rumors about me, you hear!" Misty yelled. Apparently the intimidation didn't work as Leaf looked indifferent.

"That was one time!" She protested. "I really thought you guys hit it off too!"

"We were paired up for an in-class assignment," Misty said slowly and deliberately. "How is that 'hitting it off?'"

Leaf sighed. "How many times can I say I'm sorry? And besides, that happened three years ago!"

"But he still sends me chocolates every Valentine's Day!" Misty roared angrily.

I chuckled to myself as Leaf and Misty bickered back and forth. We were nearing where Dawn was standing and she didn't seem to be disturbed by the boisterous argument behind her.

"What happened now?" she asked as I stood besides her. It was almost comical at how used to she was over their fighting.

"Something about rumors and… Ash?" I said the last word hesitantly. Dawn must've heard my confusion.

"He goes to our school," she said. "He's pretty cute, but he's as dense as you can get them. He's a proven example that brains aren't hereditary."

"Brains?" I felt very slow today.

"His mom's the head researcher at the Kanto Institute of Technology," Dawn explained patiently. "Or the KIT for short."

I nodded, impressed. "Not bad."

"I think I see the taxi!" Dawn exclaimed as she raised her hand above her head and waved to get the driver's attention.

A yellow mini-van pulled up in front of Dawn and she pulled the front seat open.

"LaRousse Preparatory Taxi Transportation System at your service," The driver grunted, as if he said the line a million times and didn't mean a single word of it. Dawn fished something out of her purse and flashed her student ID. The driver nodded and Dawn plopped onto the front passenger seat.

"Don't forget to show your ID too May," Dawn called from inside the car. But all I had was my temporary pass. I showed it to the driver anyways and he approved it with a nod of his head.

It seems that Misty and Leaf had managed to make amends in the short period of time. They were actually laughing when they climbed into the taxi.

"At least you didn't have Gary as your partner," Leaf stuck her tongue out and made a face. "He was totally unfocused and I had to do almost all of the work."

"He was distracted by you Leaf," Dawn said from the front as the taxi started to drive away. She purposely turned her head to look at us. She had a wide grin on her face.

Leaf chuckled. It sounded nervous. "Sure he was Dawn. Did you forget that he has a girlfriend too?"

Misty rolled her eyes. "Please," she said. "He and Alyssa are going to be over soon. They just don't have any chemistry. All they do is sneak away to make out behind the school."

"Ew," I muttered to myself.

Misty laughed. "I know right?"

I never was much of a romance person. Sure, I found guys cute and maybe had liked one or two; but I would never do anything about them. They were just crushes.

Leaf didn't look too happy at the way the conversation was steering. So I guess it was time to step in.

"So, is there anything I should know before starting my first school day?" I asked. Leaf shot me a grateful look. I winked in response.

"Not really," Misty started.

"There is one thing actually," Dawn said as she faced the front again.

"Watch out for Drew," she said. "Don't cross with him or his fan girls. If you do, things will get nasty quickly. But if you keep your distance, you'd probably survive your first year."

Wait, did she just say fan girls?

Apparently I voiced my question aloud since Misty answered. "Yeah," she said. "Don't mess with them. They're vicious and will launch any attack if you so much as talk to Drew."

"Are you sure?" I asked dubiously. The whole idea seemed very extreme.

"Does the name Andrew Hayden ring a bell?" Leaf asked.

Hayden… That name sounds familiar.

"A little," I admitted. "I've heard of Hayden before, but that's a common surname right?"

"Not likely," Dawn said as we finally pulled into the school grounds. "Dorm 4," she said to the driver.

Misty continued in Dawn's place. "Hayden is the name of LaRousse's only living royalty members. They used to rule over the city back in the medieval ages. Of course they don't anymore, but they still have some influence over the government. LaRousse Prep got major attention when it was announced that the heir of the Hayden estate and fortune was attending the school."

"So imagine how a bunch of the girls here reacted," Leaf said dreamily. I gathered that she was one of his fan girls. "A prince in their midst, and a real one in that manner! So Drew managed to accumulate quite a fan base here and the girls are really protective of their prince. They hope they'll be his princess one day."

The taxi stopped outside of Dorm 4 and we all climbed out. It took some time to haul out all of Dawn's bought merchandise

"Thanks for riding, have a good day," The driver said. He sounded very bored. We opened the front door and made our way across the lobby. There weren't as much kids that day, but none of them paid us any attention. Why couldn't it have been like that yesterday?

"By the way Dawn," Misty started as we reached an elevator. I feel kind of stupid since it was just besides the stairway. How could I have not seen it yesterday?

"What made you so angry about Paul at the mall?" The elevator dinged! and we piled into the cramped space. Even the elevators are fancy here, but I guess it should since a prince wanted to attend the school.

"Oh…" Dawn's face soured as the memory came up. "There was this girl from our school who was bragging to her friends how she's going to be Paul's first girlfriend."

"And that upsets you why?" Leaf asked.

"Because he doesn't deserve to have a girlfriend!" Dawn exclaimed. The elevator dinged! again as we reached the seventh floor. There was music blaring in the hallways so loud that it made me cringe. Dawn, Misty, and Leaf didn't seem to notice. In fact they dropped off all the bags and boxes outside of our apartment before heading to the source of the music. The door was wide open as Dawn stopped outside the doorway

"Yo!" Dawn shouted louder than the music. "Shut that racket off Kenny! This isn't your house you know!"

A couple of seconds later, the volume lowered considerably and a boy with brown hair stuck his head out of his doorway.

"Hey DeeDee!" The boy said cheerfully. "What's up?"

"'What's up?'" Dawn asked angrily. "Your music is too loud! Keep it down or I'll complain to the principal to move you to a different dorm!"

"Alright, alright," Kenny said. "We'll tune it down a little." His eyes passed harmlessly over Misty and Leaf before landing on me.

"New girl?" he asked, pointing to me. I nodded in confirmation.

"I'm Kenny," he said flashing a wide grin. "Nice to meet you. Anyways, I better go back and tell my roommate about our new 'rule.' I'll catch you later DeeDee!"

"Don't call me that!" Dawn yelled. But it was too late and her only response was the door slamming in her face.

Dawn sighed as Leaf and Misty smiled at each other knowingly. We walked back to Apartment 7C and walked inside to our apartment. Dawn and I secluded ourselves in our dorm while Misty and Leaf returned to theirs.

"Here you go," Dawn grunted as she dumped all of her purchased goods onto my bed.

"What's this for?" I asked in bewilderment. She wasn't seriously thinking of what I think she's thinking.

"I bought this all for you." Dawn waved the clothes, shoes, and decorations in my direction.

"But…" I started. My mind was blank.

"Don't fret over it," Dawn said nonchalantly. "The whole point of us shopping today was for you. Consider it a welcoming gift."

"It was unnecessary though," I said as I picked up a handbag that had to be worth more than my entire suitcase. I tossed it onto my bed as if it were poisonous.

Dawn smiled. "It's nothing," she insisted. "And don't upset a Berlitz's pride by rejecting it. I'm glad you're here May; I know that we're going to be the best of friends."

I wanted to think that too.


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks for the reviews so far! :)**

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><p><strong>Chapter 3<strong>

Today's Monday; my first day here at LaRousse Prep. Dawn woke me up extra early so I could look around the school without any students milling about. I was carrying around a light pink handbag that Dawn bought me with a bunch of random school supplies stuffed in.

Dawn, Misty, and Leaf took me on an "exclusive tour." They showed me where the cafeteria was, where the gym was (yuck!), even where the bathrooms were. In contrast to the apartment buildings, LaRousse Prep looked like, well, a regular high school. Students eventually began to show up here and there and the atmosphere immediately changed. You could sense the arrogance and vanity emitting through the hallways; the way people carry themselves when they think they're better than you. It made me glad that Dawn, Misty, and Leaf were there for me to help me through my first day; especially since I had a particularly nasty nightmare the night before. Dawn even said she found me crying through my sleep when she went to wake me up. It would've been helpful if I'd known what it was about; but no luck of course.

"Oh!" Dawn squeaked all of a sudden, drawing our attention.

"What's wrong?" Leaf asked in alarm.

"I need to go," Dawn said hurriedly. "I'll see you guys later!" And without another word, she rushed away as fast as her legs could carry her.

"What was that all about?" I asked worriedly.

"I have a pretty good idea," Misty said, nudging her head in front of us. Even with all the students lingering in the hallway, I could tell that Misty was talking about three boys in particular. They seemed to stand out in the crowd. One had raven-black hair and warm brown eyes. He had a silly grin on his face and a somewhat clueless look on his face. I wondered if this was Ash, the boy who was reportedly denser than gold. There was another boy next to him. He had brown spiky hair and a playful smile on lips. He looked very confident, but his brown eyes looked tired. Could this possibly be Gary, the boy Leaf was complaining about two days ago? Walking besides the spiky-haired boy was a boy with one of the emotionless masks anyone could possibly muster. I had no idea who he could be. He had purple hair and cold black eyes. His whole demeanor screamed "serious" and I knew I never wanted to find myself on his bad side.

The black-haired boy raised a hand and waved happily to us. Misty was the only one who returned it. Or maybe the greeting was solely for her.

Too impatient to keep up with the pace of his friends, the black-haired boy bounded towards us. He caught sight of me and grinned.

"I bet you're the new girl," he said. I'm starting to get annoyed by this title. "I'm Ash Ketchum."

"May Maple," I replied. My hunch was right; this really was Ash and the boy Misty was apparently "crushing" on.

By then Ash's friends had caught up to him. The brown-haired guy flashed a mischievous grin at me. "I'm Gary Oak," he said. "And what's your name?"

"Her name's May," Leaf intercepted before I could say anything.

"Oh hey Leafy!" Gary greeted casually. "What've you been up to for the last couple of days? I was going to ask you if you wanted to catch a movie with me."

"Really?" Leaf asked. It amused me to hear that she was genuinely confused. "My PokeGear didn't receive any calls from you."

Gary looked equally confused, but it was quickly replaced by that confident smile again. "It doesn't matter," he decided. "I went with Alyssa. Come to think of it, I'm not really sure what the movie was about… or what it was called for that matter."

I saw Leaf flinch and Ash make a disgusted face. Misty made retching noises while the purple-haired guy didn't say anything.

"Oh yeah!" Gary said as though he suddenly remembered something. He clapped the purple-haired dude who was besides him on the shoulder. "This is Paul Shinji," he told me. "He doesn't like talking to strangers."

"You're so annoying Oak," Paul grumbled. So this was the infamous Paul. I could almost see why he and Dawn had such a strained relationship. It didn't look like they had anything in common.

Ash sniggered, only to have Paul angrily stare at him. Gary rolled his eyes just as a loud bell resonated through the halls. Locker doors slammed shut and conversations grew louder as everyone made their way to their first class.

"I guess we'll be seeing you girls later," Ash yelled over the commotion as Gary and Paul disappeared amongst the crowd. "Tell Dawn I said 'hi' by the way."

"Will do," Misty replied as Ash smiled and walked away from us. Misty abruptly turned around to head to her first class. The tips of her ears were bright red and it looked like she was fighting the urge to smile.

Interesting.

* * *

><p>I stopped outside Room 183. I checked the schedule card in my hand to make sure it was the right class.<p>

Inhaling a deep breath, I reached for the door handle and pushed against the wooden door to admit myself in.

My first thought: it was noisy. The teacher was grading papers at his desk and had allowed the class of students to grow rowdy. He had graying hair and a large bushy mustache. He struck me as someone who demanded respect and wouldn't settle for anything less. Several students glanced up from their conversations to stare as I walked past them. Arceus, I hope it's not obvious that I'm blushing; the temperature in the room had suddenly skyrocketed.

The teacher ignored me for a full five minutes as he stacked the graded papers into one neat pile. Once he was sure every pencil had been sharpened and every eraser bit had been cleared from his desk did he finally pay me any attention.

"Ah," he murmured. "So you're Miss Maple?" He peered over his spectacles to study me with one eye. I fidgeted uncomfortably.

"Take a seat wherever you'd like," he told me as he reached for a large paper clip to hold the graded sheets together. "Class will begin soon; be prepared to take plenty of notes."

I nodded in confirmation and scanned the room to look for a seat to take. Plenty of eager eyes stared back, trying to catch my attention. I eventually decided on an empty desk that was the furthest from the front of the room. I had to squeeze past a group of girls who were chatting away happily close to the middle of the room. One of them elbowed me in the ribs, but I chose to ignore that.

I sank into my chair just as Professor Rowan stood up and clapped his hands.

"Hurry up and get to your seats," the Professor sighed. The group of girls dispersed.

"Now take out your notebooks and get out a fresh sheet of paper, today we'll be discussing the…"

My mind started to drift away as Professor Rowan began to lecture.

* * *

><p>I stretched out my sore fingers as the bell rung, signaling the end of first period. Why were there so many stupid notes in History? I packed away my belongings slowly; I wasn't in any rush to reach my next class.<p>

Second period was next. It was all the way on the other side of the school. By the time I reached it, the bell had already rung. I was hoping that my teacher would be lenient and let me slide on my first day. Of course, no such luck.

"And what's your excuse?" The teacher growled at me as I entered the classroom. I saw Ash and Misty through the corner of my eye and I half-smiled in comfort.

"Is there something funny?" The teacher asked me angrily. The smile quickly disappeared.

"Sorry sir," I mumbled.

"What was that?" The teacher asked lightly. He bent down and cupped his ear with his hand.

He was mocking me.

"I can't hear you!" he nearly shouted, causing the whole class to turn. I could feel the heat rising to my cheeks again. It felt even worse knowing that the teacher was the one causing it to do so.

I took a deep breath. "I'm sorry sir," I said as calm and as confident as I could.

He folded his arms across his chest. "Just sit down," he grunted.

Unfortunately, the only available seat in the class was across the room from Ash and Misty. After yelling at the whole class and basically telling everyone they were failures at life, the teacher allowed everyone to spend the remaining time in class to work on their engineering projects. I, on the other hand, was not so lucky.

"You, Maple!" The teacher snapped. "Front and center!"

Uh oh, what did I do now?

I reluctantly got out of my seat and trudged towards the teacher's desk. He was pulling out a bunch of packets out of a particularly large filing cabinet.

"Here, take this," he grunted as he dropped the enormous mountain of papers into my arms. I nearly fell from the heavy weight.

"We have a test this Friday and you'll need to know everything from there." His words were curt and emotionless. My eyes suddenly darted to his desk. The first thing I saw was a black nameplate with yellow letters etched into it. It read Lt. Surge.

"…includes Chapters 1 through 14. Also do the practice problems at the end of each chapter, I'll be checking them two days from now."

My eyes widened in shock as the words processed in my head.

"But," I protested. "That's so much work…" Did all teachers think they were the only ones giving out homework? Seemed that way.

"Don't be such a sissy," Lt. Surge snapped. "I'm giving you two days, that's more than enough time. And if I hear one more complaint out of you, I'll give you double detention. This school doesn't like slackers."

I swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat and nodded. I staggered back to my computer. Some of my computer neighbors jumped when I literally slammed the stack of packets on top of the table. I smiled sheepishly before picking up the first packet.

_Introductions to the Principles of Engineering. _Sounds like fun!_  
><em>

I flipped to the back of the packet and glanced at the last problem; question number thirty nine.

"Awesome," I muttered to myself before pressing my lips together to form a lifeless smile.

* * *

><p>"Surge is the most hated teacher in school," Misty told me later at the end of class. She had been waiting for me outside of the classroom. "The other teachers don't even like him and think he's way too strict." I silently agreed with them.<p>

"Don't worry about it," Misty said as I struggled to prevent any of the packets from slipping out of grip. They couldn't even fit in my handbag. "I'll help you out with them; you won't even need to read the information."

Even that promise didn't untie the uncomfortable knot in the pit of my stomach.

* * *

><p>"Hey May!" Leaf greeted as I sat down in the seat besides her. It turns out we have Biology together. The teacher told me to call her Roxanne instead of her maiden name. She let me choose where I wanted to sit; I liked her way more than my engineering teacher.<p>

"Surge?" She asked, eyeing my stack of packets. Speak of the devil.

"How'd you know?" I asked.

"Work overload," she replied. "No other sane teacher would ever assign so many problems. Bad luck that you got him."

I ground my teeth together in frustration. She might as well slap me across the face. But she doesn't know, so I can't get mad at her.

"Hey Leafy," Gary greeted as he sank in the seat behind her. He was still wearing that same confident smile from this morning. His brown eyes were tired too.

"Hey Gary," Leaf replied. She suddenly became very interested in trying to find her pencil case.

* * *

><p>Roxanne assigned us partners to work on some in-class questions. Unfortunately for me, I got stuck with this annoying kid named Barry. He kept talking about random things and I had to do all of the questions by myself since he was no help at all. He even had the nerve of threatening and fining me if we didn't get an "A."<p>

We finished early and I turned it in to Roxanne. I had a feeling we weren't going to get that "A" though.

I returned to my seat. I could hear Leaf and Gary talking, but then again they were sitting only one desk away.

It turns out Leaf was right, Gary wasn't a very helpful lab partner.

"Saturated… fats are… tend to be unhealthy," Leaf said aloud as she wrote down the answer.

"All fats are bad for you," Gary said as he watched Leaf scribble down the answer. "They'd ruin those sexy legs of yours."

Leaf's pencil tip snapped. She stared at it, annoyed, before casting a critical eye to Gary.

"Behave yourself Oak," she hissed as she snatched Gary's pencil out of his hand. She ducked her head, but the pink blush highlighting her cheeks was still visible. Whether it was from embarrassment or something else, I didn't know.

I heard Gary chuckle to himself and he absentmindedly grabbed Leaf's abandoned pencil and twirled it with his free hand. His brown eyes suddenly shot up and met the curious gaze of another girl from across the room. The girl blushed furiously at getting caught and quickly looked away, giggling nervously. When she dared to sneak a peek, Gary's lips curled upwards to his confident smile. He winked at the girl. Her already pink face turned bright red. She batted her eyelids and smiled sweetly. I think she was trying to look cute. But the whole ordeal seemed pretty funny.

Leaf suddenly looked up to see Gary smirking at the girl from across the room. She looked between the two and her green eyes were wide in surprise.

"What are you doing?" she demanded as Gary turned his head to look at her.

"Do you know her name?" he asked, ignoring Leaf's question. He nudged his head in the direction of the girl.

"Stacey?" Leaf asked uncertainly.

"She's pretty hot," Gary commented. His voice was distant, as if he suddenly wasn't in the room anymore. He seemed to be deep in thought.

"You have a girlfriend," Leaf snapped. Her voice was strained. "You shouldn't be thinking those kinds of things."

Gary grinned at Leaf. "I'm inspecting the merchandise," he said. "But I'm not interested in buying at the moment."

I ground my teeth together angrily. What a jerk! Is Leaf thinking the same thing?

Much to my surprise, Leaf cracked a grin. "Nah, she's too expensive," Leaf said. "You're too cheap to spend any money on her."

Gary laughed. "That's too bad," he said. "Looks like I'll be keeping what I have right now. But you know me, I'll need to replace the goods soon; it's getting too old." He winked playfully at Leaf.

Leaf's grin quickly fell from her face; because even she could hear the double meaning behind those words.


End file.
